I wouldnt completely rule out the psychology element but to suggest it as the only or even the main reason we are 2nd or 3rd in world RL is simplistic at best and downright ignorant and silly at worst. Do you really beleive that Ellery Hanly, Paul Sculthorpe, Andy Gregory, Kevin Ward and their like went into Test matches psychologically beaten before a ball was kicked? They were all winners, Champions who were competing with players developed in a system far more competitive and efficient than ours, a system that produced and still produces players who in 99% of cases have to get by a host of other players to secure a Test Jersey, to reach the top they have to be great.

Back to Sinield,Has he been the Best Player in the World over the last 12 months?Not for me, he's done what he's always done and that is to be the fulcrum of a good Leeds team, looked great in domestic competition and, considering the opposition, relatively ordinary at international level. He's a decent ambassador for our game and a solid role model for younger payers, a shining example of a nice bloke who through hard work and dedication has had a great career which has put him up there with Leeds RLFCs best ever. That's the crux of this though isn't it, he's cumulatively had a great career without ever being anywhere near the best player in any single year including last year.

If there was an international award for career contribution then I'd nominate Kevin Sinfield in a flash and he'd rightfully win it by a distance!

If the Golden Boot is awarded to the Best Player in the World then it shouldn't have gone to Sinfield. The fact that it has diminishes the award not just this year but for every future year and for every year past.

If you just want blind congratulations without sincerity then knock yourself out but I don't agree with the panels selection and it's not even close enough for me to mitigate my misgivings away so I won't be adding my approval.

We haven't beaten the Aussies in a series since 1970 and Since 1972.Remember the 1980s?

but you and I weve been through that and this is not our fate.
So let us so let us not talk falsely now.
The hour is getting late
FROM 2004,TO DO WHAT THIS CLUB HAS DONE,IF THATS NOT GREATNESSTHEN i DONT KNOW WHAT IS.

You see it is all about opinion,but its because its a Leeds player that there is so much uproar

but you and I weve been through that and this is not our fate.
So let us so let us not talk falsely now.
The hour is getting late
FROM 2004,TO DO WHAT THIS CLUB HAS DONE,IF THATS NOT GREATNESSTHEN i DONT KNOW WHAT IS.

So when an English player wins it,it isn't deserved.Should we not call it the gold and green boot then.

If England were the number one team in the world and an Australian suddenly won it, I guarantee there would be plenty of Englishmen up in arms, just the way it works, every decision that is made is going to have a side that's for it and a side that's against it.

St George Illawarra Dragons fan with a Soft Spot for Wigan in the Super League.

That's just ###### and to dismiss everyone as just being anti Leeds is very disrespectful of people's considered opinions!

Those old Players you mentioned not going into a game being psychologically beaten in test's I noticed you never mentioned Garry Schoefield?

but you and I weve been through that and this is not our fate.
So let us so let us not talk falsely now.
The hour is getting late
FROM 2004,TO DO WHAT THIS CLUB HAS DONE,IF THATS NOT GREATNESSTHEN i DONT KNOW WHAT IS.

One of the sad things about this for me is that when somebody like Phil "Buzz" Rothfield of the Sydney Telegraph refers to Sinfield as "Kevin Who?" - he is not merely affecting ignorance but is, I believe, genuinely, authentically ignorant as to Kevin Sinfield's status in the game.

Within Australian rugby league circles the likes of Steve Mascord are the exception... anyone perusing the aforementioned Telegraph or the Sydney Morning Herald or the rugby league section on the Roar will soon realise that the vast majority of current Australian journalists and fans have little or no idea re. the game in this country. Too many of them simply do not care about the game beyond their shores and do not pretend otherwise. Of course, our national side's performances over many years have made this easy for them but I reckon they would take some convincing that our national side used to defeat theirs on a regular basis - home and away - in one Ashes series after another...

Sinfield and his men - assuming the former is to captain England at the World Cup - can shock the Australian press and public once and for all later this year by doing something their predecessors used to do on a regular basis. If Rothfield and co are incredulous right now, I wonder what they might be like then?

So when an English player wins it,it isn't deserved.Should we not call it the gold and green boot then.

It's a fair challenge, but the reality is that the Australian team have some outstanding individuals playing for them, and have done so for the last few decades. It's not massively unexpected that a team that has had the likes of Lockyer, Smith, Slater, Inglis etc will dominate this award.

TBH - I don't agree that he was the best player in the World in 2012, there's nothing more to it than that from my point of view, so not really much else for me to debate.

Seriously, you need to seek help, you have an acute persicution complex!

So Schofield was not as good as those players you mentioned?he was psycholgically beaten before he went on the field?

but you and I weve been through that and this is not our fate.
So let us so let us not talk falsely now.
The hour is getting late
FROM 2004,TO DO WHAT THIS CLUB HAS DONE,IF THATS NOT GREATNESSTHEN i DONT KNOW WHAT IS.

So Schofield was not as good as those players you mentioned?he was psycholgically beaten before he went on the field?

My God you're being serious!

It wasn't a finite list there were many other players I could've added but a small handful was enough to illustrate my point, if it makes you happy and removes the need for increasing your medication then I would happily include Schoffield on that list.

If England were the number one team in the world and an Australian suddenly won it, I guarantee there would be plenty of Englishmen up in arms, just the way it works, every decision that is made is going to have a side that's for it and a side that's against it.

In 1995 George Weah won FIFA's World Player of the Year, UEFA's Player of the Year, Africa's Player of the Year and played for Liberia.

In 1995 George Weah won FIFA's World Player of the Year, UEFA's Player of the Year, Africa's Player of the Year and played for Liberia.

The best player doesn't always play for the best country.

So he won all the major awards available to him?

By the above rationale, Sinfield should surely have won the Rhino's Player of the Year, the Man of Steel (or the Pro Writers Player of the Year) as well as the Golden Boot.This is my only issue really - had he done a clean sweep over here and was clearly the best player in Britain, then you could justify him being world's best. As he hasn't been acknowledged as Britain's best, then something doesn't follow, but that's just my opinion.

By the above rationale, Sinfield should surely have won the Rhino's Player of the Year, the Man of Steel (or the Pro Writers Player of the Year) as well as the Golden Boot.This is my only issue really - had he done a clean sweep over here and was clearly the best player in Britain, then you could justify him being world's best. As he hasn't been acknowledged as Britain's best, then something doesn't follow, but that's just my opinion.

Every award is voted for on a different basis.

The Rhinos award is for Rhinos matches only, excluding representative games; the Man of Steel is for Super League regular season matches only; the Golden Boot is given for the season as a whole, whether for club or country.

Kevin Sinfield is a hugely influential, inspiring player and captain, who led Leeds to victory to win two out of three trophies, and then captained England superbly in a way that suggests that we have a real chance of doing well in this year's World Cup.

He also inspired lavish praise from, among others, the England rugby union squad, after he addressed them prior to one of their games, and the broadcaster of the year Clare Balding.

I'm not sure what more he could have done to win the Golden Boot this year.

He would not necessarily have been my choice (I would have gone with Gary Schofield), but I can see how he came to win. I take the point about Smith, but do not think it's bonkers in any way. I am not sure Faz' case was any stronger, and of course he turned his back on the game that made him shortly afterwards, which Sinny would never do. He's a worthy winner.
The reactions strike me as an entirely predictable range from disagreement to disbelief to Andy Capp (cockney rhyming slang surely?)

If England were the number one team in the world and an Australian suddenly won it, I guarantee there would be plenty of Englishmen up in arms, just the way it works, every decision that is made is going to have a side that's for it and a side that's against it.

Well no we most of us any way are not as insular as most Australians who's memory and knowledge of the game only goes back to circal 1979-82

but you and I weve been through that and this is not our fate.
So let us so let us not talk falsely now.
The hour is getting late
FROM 2004,TO DO WHAT THIS CLUB HAS DONE,IF THATS NOT GREATNESSTHEN i DONT KNOW WHAT IS.